Esher is well connected for people who mostly don't need to leave home. Six in ten workers work from home. Very few take the train, even with several stations nearby. Gigabit broadband reaches most homes. The busiest connection in town is the internet.
Esher Rail Station is in the town itself, and Hinchley Wood, Claygate, Thames Ditton and Surbiton stations are all close. Even so, only about 5% of working residents took the train to work at the 2021 Census, and about 1% took the bus, despite 85 bus stops around the area. Esher has more stations to choose from than most towns, and very few residents use any of them to get to work.
The 2021 Census shows how people actually got to work. About 62% worked from home, 24% drove, 4% walked and 2% cycled. Only about 8% of households have no car, and about 53% have two or more. When residents do go out, they mostly drive.
The Department for Transport's modelled journey times for the area, from 2019, put the nearest town centre about 9 minutes away by car, 11 by bike, 14 by public transport and 19 on foot. A GP is about 8 minutes by car, 13 by public transport or 14 on foot, and a food shop is about 10 minutes' walk or 7 minutes' drive. A hospital is the long trip, at about 24 minutes by car and 48 by public transport. Jobs are about 7 minutes away by car and 19 by public transport. These are area averages and the distances don't change much, but bus and train services have been cut since 2019, so the public transport times are the least reliable. A hospital trip by public transport takes twice as long as the drive, which may explain all the driveways.
Bus stops in Esher have an average of 43 scheduled departures each on a weekday and about 3 in the peak hour, and about 92% of stops have some weekend service. Those figures are current, unlike the 2019 journey times. Three departures in the peak hour is a usable service, and the fact that only about 1% ride it shows how strongly residents prefer the car.
Gigabit broadband reaches about 79% of premises in Esher, and superfast broadband about 99%. Mobile coverage is complete, with 4G or 5G from at least one operator and from all operators at 100% of the area. For a town where most people's commute is a login, that matters more than the station does. Check gigabit availability for the specific address, since about a fifth of premises are still on slower superfast lines.
Road noise affects almost every postcode in Esher, about 100% of them, which are close to the 65-decibel level at which official noise mapping treats road noise as significant, and the loudest band recorded reaches 75 decibels. Rail noise is a separate and much smaller issue: about 5% of postcodes are near the same 65-decibel level from trains, also peaking at 75. The mapping covers postcodes, and how loud it is inside any particular house depends on the house. Henry VIII turned these manors into a royal hunting ground, and the area hasn't been fully quiet since.
Esher has 5 public charge points with 6 connectors between them, and none of them are rapid. With no rapid charger, you can't top up while doing the shopping, so charging an electric car here mostly means a charger on your own driveway.
For a typical working week this suits people who drive or work from home. The commute is the car or the home office, and the stations are there as a backup.
Esher is better connected than average, with good broadband, a car for nearly every adult and good bus coverage. It only looks weak if you expect people to use the trains.